Paul Johnson seems determined to make of Mozart a moral exemplar: His attraction to dozens of women? It never descended to adultery. Freemasonry? He was still a faithful Catholic. Begging letters? They weren't what they seemed. A domineering Leopold? He was actually a loving father. In this way and others, Johnson's short biography is 180 degrees from the longer Beethoven biography referenced below. On the positive side, unlike John Suchet's vast silences on the subject of music, Johnson crams every page with facts about compositions and Mozart's working life, supplemented by extracts from his letters (and those of his father), with a small amount of personal information.
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